Bernie Sanders Receives Two Major Endorsements

Bernie Sanders has picked up two major endorsements today from the Communications Workers of America union and Democracy for America. MSNBC reports on the first endorsement of the day:

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is set to pick up one of his biggest endorsements yet Thursday from the powerful Communications Workers of America union, sources told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell.

The group represents some 700,000 workers nationally, making it by far the largest union to back Sanders yet.

Bernie Sanders picked up his second significant progressive endorsement of the day on Thursday afternoon, and this one might sting for Hillary Clinton.

Democracy For America, the 1 million-member liberal group that helped stoke much of the pro-Elizabeth Warren movement early in the 2016 election cycle, is backing the independent Vermont senator after he earned 88 percent of the over 270,000 votes cast in the group’s online membership poll, compared with 10 percent for Clinton and 1 percent for both Martin O’Malley and the option not to endorse at all.

The move is significant given DFA’s high threshold for endorsing. The group has existed since 2004, and no candidate had ever previously made it past the two-thirds mark necessary for the nod — which will come with fundraising help and an on-the-ground organization in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, DFA executive director Charles Chamberlain wrote in an email due to go to supporters on Thursday.

As the strong establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton remains far ahead of Sanders in terms of endorsements, but it is likely that many union members will vote for Sanders regardless of the position of their union leadership. I am not surprised that the DFA’s threshold to endorse a presidential candidate was met for the first time this year. With Hillary Clinton’s move to the right during this campaign, in addition to her overall conservative record and political philosophy, this represents a clear choice between a liberal and conservative candidate for the Democratic nomination. Clinton’s positions are generally contrary to the views which led many liberals to get involved in politics and groups such as Democracy for America.

Aides to Bernie Sanders said Wednesday night that his campaign has now collected more than 2 million contributions and that they expect to outpace President Obama’s 2012 reelection effort on that count by the end of the year.

The number reflects an operation that has focused on raising money in small increments from an exceptionally wide range of donors — with the vast majority of contributions coming over the Internet…

Sanders has already taken in more individual contributions than Obama did at this point in his 2008 campaign for president. Aides to Sanders said they are confident by the end of the year, Sanders will have more than the 2.2 million donations that Obama did during the equivalent stretch in the 2012 race.